Lend me your ear for a moment. I've been feeling complain-y about red carpets as of late, bristling at the lack of risks being taken, and feeling nostalgic for the times when, say, Bjork would wear a swan and everyone lost their minds. Guess what. That swan designer, Marjan Pejoski, went on to create KTZ, one of the most important musician-fan labels OUT. She was 20 years ahead of her time! The red carpet should be a place where style is DEFINED!

ANYWAY, one person who consistently Brings It (capital B-I, because she's a Bad one), is Rihanna, because doy.

Over the last year or so, Nicki Minaj has abandoned her outrageous Harajuku style and rainbow reverie of wigs in favor of more demure, adult garments. While her style chutzpah was something we greatly admired, we cannot overstate how totally HERE FOR HER we are now, as she transitions into a more sophisticated, grown-woman style. And while her silver-screen debut isn't until the forthcoming Cameron Diaz/Leslie Mann/Kate Upton vehicle, The Other Woman, a rom-com that's probably not going to win any Oscars (just a guess), her 2014 MTV Movie Awards look includes so much statuesque, Grecian beauty it's almost like we've glimpsed into her future as an award-winning actress as well as top rapper.

Karlie Kloss wearing slides for 'Interview' and a pair of AdilettesPhotos: Interview Magazine/Adidas

Look at this foot. It's been over a year since the slow immersion of the athletic slide and its brethren into the annals of high fashion, and it hasn't exhausted itself yet: For one, this season in New York, rising label Houghton revisited Celine's furry Spring 2013 slippers, with similar versions in shearling and mohair for Autumn 2014. For two: A year on, designers are still pushing them in a direction you might not have imagined, or wished for—normcore, as it were, with the foot being the locus of all of normcore's attendant politics. Marni's Spring 2014 line, for instance, features flip-flops on a platform that align with the '30s spectator theme of the collection but also recall some of the more awkward moments of our late-'90s adolescence. (Damn, Marni, at least it's a platform—the further our feet are from the gross New York sidewalk, the better.)

Pharrell's "Happy" performance at the 2014 Oscars was backdropped with a giant screen of Despicable Me minions wearing their leader's Vivienne Westwood hat. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, Pharrell was wearing the hat again—THE HAT THAT MEMED THE WORLD. Inspired yet again by Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" video, but ramped up a bit for the occasion, this time he copped his classic Adidas track jacket in black leather and a crispy, more formal classic black Buffalo crown. Twitter wondered if the sequined kicks on his feet were Red Octobers, but while they did mirror the all-over crimson of Yeezy's feet, we vote no. We're fairly certain he'd never wear Adidas with Nike at the same time, and we see some telltale triple stripes. He did match his mic and earpieces to his footwear, though, with rubied veneers glimmering like jewelry.

Pharrell and Malcolm McLaren in their matching hats.Photos: Getty Images/YouTube

Last night at the Grammys, Pharrell's hat was all the rage, so to speak, making rare note of forestry on the red carpet, and even garnering its own Twitter account. But while his pairing of the Smokey hat (or, to him, "military inspired") with an Adidas jacket may have seemed random, there was a very specific method to his madness: His ensemble paid homage to the video for Malcolm McLaren's 1982 single "Buffalo Gals," written after the legendary punk svengali/visioneer first attended a Zulu Nation park jam in the Bronx. In essence, Pharrell was bigging up that very creative moment when punk and hip-hop were cross-pollinating and speaking to one another, both musically and sartorially.

McLaren opens the "Buffalo Gals" video in the very same park ranger hat and khaki safari jacket, bopping around between shots of a very formal square dance in a basketball court, and slightly less formal B-boys clad in Pharrell's exact Adidas gear. "Buffalo gals go around the outside," McLaren raps, with background vocals and scratches by members of the Zulu Nation and the World's Famous Supreme Team. As style collisions go, Skateboard P.'s ensemble makes sense in this context, even if it didn't on the carpet.

When Madonna hit the red carpet, she told E!'s Giuliana Rancic that her son David Ciccone Ritchie, who was by her side, picked out her outfit. The pair struck an adorable duo pose in matching suits and hats, with David accessorizing with patent spats and the increasingly popular lapel brooch for men. His mom, of course, went full glitter: She's been essentially nowhere without her grill as of late, whether photo shoots or Instagram—we wouldn't be surprised if she wore it under her mask skiing or during yoga.

NOBODY PUTS BEY-Z IN THE CORNER. Which is why anyone else opening this Grammy party would be ridiculous: Beyonce and Jay Z's "Drunk in Love" is one of the most important songs of the year, and their love cannot be seconded. The performance was literally chill-inducing, with Beyonce posted up in ocean waves of fog on a chair, reminiscent of Flashdance. Consistent with her early-'80s, Broadway-influenced leotard steez, Bey was dressed in a gorgeous sheer-cage combo leotard by Nichole de Carle, sparkly polka-dotted Saint Laurent stockings with back seams, and black Stuart Weitzman jazz shoes for full Ann Reinking realness.

Ever underscoring that she's Princess Doing-Everything, Rihanna wore a Dominican doobie wrap and pins to accept her award for top R&B Female Artist—the hairy hair-cap most black women tend to reserve for the ride to the salon—paired with a goth mermaid look (custom Jean Paul Gaultier sequined-sweetheart bralette and matching mini cascaded with lace, BTW). The coiffure seems to be a deliberate accessory to the #ghettogoth steez she's been riding so hard lately (to the chagrin of Ghe20 Goth1k originator Venus X) and another entry in the recent pantheon of "hood accessories" incorporated into high fashion. (See: the proliferation of house slippers and socks in these streets, including Miley Cyrus, via Phoebe Philo.) Twitter was mostly beside itself, underscoring the importance of bringing visibility and power to every aspect of black hair, often immersed in politics. As writer and cultural critic Sydette Harry (@Blackamazon) tweeted, "@Rihanna is what happens when [West Indian women] get enough money to not be able to google a f*** to give. I.LIVE.FOR.IT."

Versace. Versace Versace. Versace Versace Versace Versace Versace. Versace! Obviously the storied design house is not new to the hip-hop and rock worlds: in Migos' number-one summer jam "Versace," for instance, they were paying homage to the way the Notorious B.I.G. wore the iconic brand. But it's definitely the brand's summer—the label's been popping more than usual, and even Lady Gaga announced she's got a song on ARTPOP called "Donatella." So, it's appropriate that an awards show held a short walk away from Biggie's original residence was populated with so many stars wearing the label.

Grimes was on double Versace overlap duty: supermodel Joan Smalls wore the same logo chain over her Viktor & Rolf frock that Grimes paired with her 2 Chainz pant. Just gonna throw this out there: supergroup?

One Direction in black, white, and red at the 2013 VMAs. Photo: Getty Images

Accentuating black and white with a red pop is a tried-and-true, low-maintenance way to make a real style statement—particularly if you're coordinating with other people, but don't want to look too matchy-matchy. No grown dude wants to look like the Olsen Twins circa It Takes Two (unless you do, in which case, go forth!). At the VMAs tonight, two separate man-crews (One Direction and the trio of Robin Thicke, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar) put together impeccable complimentary ensembles, and as far as who might have done it better, they're neck and neck.

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